Tag Archives: competitive swimming

Diary • 13th March 1994

• Swimming took a big commitment, both physically and mentally. But I have no regrets; Fourteen hours a week, ten month swimming season, cold water, lactic acid pain, endless push-ups, three day swim meets, pressure of finals, waiting hours for your next race, boring lengths, heart sinking 20x200m endurance practices, swallowing water, goggles filling with water, chlorine burning your eyes, swimmer’s ear, eye sockets hurting because the goggles are too tight, the thrill of winning, and the agony of losing – It was all worth it. It’s a sport only understood by those who experienced it. With commitment and sacrifice, came patience, discipline, endurance, and grit that is hard to explain to someone that has never done it before.

• Reflecting on those years of competition, I remember how hard we trained. To this day I can say I have never trained harder, and no sport since has matched the shape I was in during those seven years.

Diary • 13th March 1994

• Friendships developed over the years, between my fellow team mates. Friendships which initially centered around competition. We had similar goals and a competitive spirit. The veterans were Wayne Kot, David Darling, Linda Weston, Tracey Colson, and Grant Reffell. I was young for that crowd, and they were closer in age to my cousin Roman. In my age group was Paul Babiak, Dave Murray and Bruce Law. Gareth Jones left after a few seasons to pursue cross country skiing. I remember him well because he was such a nice guy, and how hard he worked at each practice.

• The duo of Wayne and Dave was a welcome refreshment in the club. At the time they were nearing the end of high school. They were truly hip, and fun to have around. Being two divisions higher in age and maturity meant that I looked up to them as positive infuence. They introduced the Daveski and Waynski nicknames for themselves. That spawned Paulski, Daveski, Romski, and Gabski. Nicknames that still hold today, with my cousin.

• Morris once told us, “Never lose to someone by hundredths of a second. If you’re in a close race then make sure you win.” At a Western Regional Championship meet at Nepean, Ottawa, Canada I was in the 100m freestyle final. The leader was way ahead of us, but I was fighting for second place with a guy right next to me. As we swam to the finish I spearheaded my hand into the board. When I looked up at the clock I saw that I beat him by 1/100th of a second. That was a defining moment, and was proud of that I could action the words of my coach. I won silver, but winning that battle was more valuable to me. In swimming it’s said that 1/100th of a second is the length of a finger nail. As much as my middle finger hurt, I made the finish count, when it was necessary.

Diary • 13th March 1994

• My first big meet was the Western Regional Championships. I was 12 years old. Leading up to the event I did 200 push-ups every night for six months, to get stronger. I remember building up to 4×50 pushups, which was my limit before the lactic acid was paralyzing and unbearable. Attendance required qualifying times, so only a few swimmers from my club attended. I was swimming the 50 meter, 100m , 200m and 400m freestyle and the 100m butterfly. I made the finals for all of them. This meant a five hour wait till the evening finals. This was my first experience with competitive pressure. Morris prepared me by asking what my splits will be for the 200 freestyle. I looked at him as if, “I should know?” He coached me on the experience of the swimmers I’d be competing against. Their years of swimming exceeding my short one year career. He told me I couldn’t eat any hard foods before the finals, despite how hungry I was. I was only allowed to have a bowl of soup, or juice. In the end I won gold in the 50m and 100m freestyle, and bronze in the other three. That earned me the nickname “Champ” from Morris. This carried along for at least two seasons. I was growing and improving quickly.

• Swimming also introduced me to my first girlfriend. I was thirteen when I started dating Sandra Moore. My mom allowed me to go to her house after practice, once a week. We’d watch Barney Miller with her mom. Sandra was my first childhood love. We’re still in contact and remain friends till this day.

• By the time I was fifteen my passion in the sport began to wane. The psychological commitment was too overwhelming, and I made a conscious decision that I wouldn’t submit myself to such a strict regime. Our seven day per week swimming schedule was my limit, compared to the 14 practices a week typical of division A clubs. High school, girls, and karate became more important. My lack of effort eventually demoted me to “ex-Champ”, and that stuck until the end of my swimming career.

Diary • 13th March 1994

• My swimming career began at eleven, introduced to me by my Mom. Taci wasn’t interested in the sport so he didn’t pay much attention to my development. His hopes were in judo and soccer, but that didn’t work out so well. At the time, this was more obvious to Taci than myself. Regardless, my Mom encouraged me. She drove me to practice and attended swim meets. That support isn’t so evident until you look back at the effort required from parents. I still remember my first swim practice. I walked in with Sean Simms, Eric Finstad, and Gareth Jones. They asked me how well I can swim. Unaware of what lay ahead of me, I said that I was a good swimmer. But my first mistake was showing up with no goggles. Within five minutes my eyes were burning from the chlorine, and I was shuffled down to the last lane, with the novices. It was a reality check, and a bump to my ego, but I stuck with it and eventually learned the concept of lanes, direction, and swimming etiquette. I moved to the senior lanes after half a year. Roman joined a few months after me. He was a born breaststroker, thanks to his father, and didn’t have to start from the ground-up, like me. As the months followed, Vlasta, Soňa, and Alica gave it a try as well. Only Vlasta made a teen-career out of the sport.

• Moving to the senior team didn’t just mean moving up the lanes. It meant meeting Morris Vallencourt, the head coach. He was not much of a family man, as the parents would say, but as a coach he was awesome. He taught us discipline, organisation, leadership, passion, concentration, patience, work ethic, dealing with pain, winning and learning from our losses. His resume consisted of coaching the famous Hamilton swim team and several swimmers to national class. He was a mentor in my eyes. On the flip side, many parents had a strong disliking to him. The truth is Morris was not interested in satisfying parental agendas. He only cared about the swimmers. Besides, the political conflicts between the parents and Morris were uninteresting to me. When parents wanted their kids to swim backstroke Morris insisted on freestyle. When a swimmer complained of menstrual cramps Morris said, “Swim it off”. When a swimmer had a bleeding nose, Morris said, “Swim it off”. From my vantage point politics consisted of Morris’s salary and parental meddling into what they felt was best for their kid. Most of the swim team was behind Morris. Looking back, he was truly an wicked coach.